The Ministry of Tourism in its bid to attract more tourists into the country next year has opted to focus on branding opportunities to promote Fiji further internationally .

Permanent Secretary for Tourism, Elizabeth Powell says they had designed a work plan and are working accordingly.

“The Board of Tourism Fiji had determined a work plan early this year and we carried out a marketing audit which was extremely important to find out where Fiji is right now and where it should be,” Ms Powell said.

DTK International will provide consultancy services and at first they carry out a six-month marketing audit in the country looking at international markets and their view of Fiji.

David Kinnear the consultancy’s director said while Tourism Fiji needed strengthening on its brand and communication strategies, it needed to expand this to non-traditional ‘tourist arrival’ markets such as South America or Europe.

“Fiji Me can be understood in Australia and New Zealand but the further you go to other countries such as South America and Europe, the less understandable the concept,” he said.

DTK International also recommended more emphasis by the tourism industry be put towards web based activities including the use of social media.

“There is a need for overall social media strategy. Some website pages are inactive and not updated and we need to tell more stories on the experiences,” he added.

With the projection of visitor arrivals expected to surpass 703,000 and $23.5 million per annum allocated by government, the industry with better planning is set to achieve desired results.